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Science 332 (6036): 1392-1393

Copyright © 2011 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Autophagy's Top Chef

Ana Maria Cuervo

In cells, organelles called lysosomes are responsible for breaking down a wide range of cellular material, such as proteins and other organelles, through a process known as autophagy (1). When nutrients are scarce, autophagy allows a cell to break down its own components and recycle important molecules (2). Autophagy involves about 35 autophagy-related genes (ATGs); these genes generate multiprotein complexes that act sequentially (3), much as kitchen assistants work in sequence to prepare a meal. Most of these autophagy assistants have been identified, but not a master chef. On page 1429 of this issue, Settembre et al. (4) describe how transcription factor EB (TFEB), which is already known to coordinate lysosome formation, functions as the master chef of autophagy when cells are starving.

Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology, Marion Bessin Liver Research Center and Institute for Aging Studies, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.

E-mail: ana-maria.cuervo{at}einstein.yu.edu

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Characterization of the CLEAR network reveals an integrated control of cellular clearance pathways.
M. Palmieri, S. Impey, H. Kang, A. di Ronza, C. Pelz, M. Sardiello, and A. Ballabio (2011)
Hum. Mol. Genet. 20, 3852-3866
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